48 Hours
by B.o.B Rules
Summary: Severide and Casey weren't just friends they were brothers. But when one of your brothers is lying on a hospital bed and you're sitting in a waiting room it's enough to break the strongest person.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, so this is my first Chicago Fire story! This story is a Severide Casey friendship/brothers story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Chicago Fire. If I did things would be different...**

Kelly Severide walks into the station, a slight frown etched on his face. Shay follows him, a slight distance behind him. She gives her roommate a nervous look as Severide bangs the door to the changing room open. Shay sighs before going to get changed, giving Severide his privacy.

Severide was glad of the privacy. His mind was just such a mess right now. He bangs open his locker, changing into his work clothes. He looks at the inside of the door on his locker. There was three photos; one of him, Casey and Darden, one of him and Shay and the last one of him and his dad. He frowns when he sees the last one.

He pulls it off the door, letting it drop to the ground before he bangs his locker shut. Someone clears their throat behind him and he spins round. Casey was standing there looking concerned as he notices Severide's hands shaking slightly.

"You okay?" He carefully asks as Severide takes a deep breath, releasing it through his nose before forcing a smile on his face and nodding his head. Casey gives him a disbelieving look and Severide's shoulders slump.

He sits on the bench, setting his head in his hands. Casey, now more concerned than ever, sits beside him knowing that Severide would tell him when he felt up to it. Sure enough Severide begins to speak, still holding his head in his hands.

"My dad came by the apartment this morning… he was… he was very drunk. He… err… he told me that it was my fault mom left… and… and it was my fault that he was the way he was… and I feel so stupid because I believed him," Severide says raising his head to look at Casey. Severide's eyes are shining with tears that he wouldn't let anyone see him shed.

"I mean that's so stupid isn't it? Yet I still believe him…"

"Kelly… none of that's your fault," Casey gently says, pulling Kelly into a brotherly hug. Casey sees Shay giving her roommate a concerned look as she looks to Casey for guidance. He gives her a reassuring nod as Kelly takes a deep breath.

He breaks apart from Casey, a forced smile on his face. Casey sees right through the smile but chooses to say nothing about it. Severide quickly leaves the changing room, heading towards his office.

His small conversation with Casey had helped him a bit yet he still believed every word that had left his dad's mouth. Once in his office, Severide loses it slightly aiming a kick at the bed. A few hot, angry tears slide down his face before he pulls himself together. He picks up a bottle of water that was sitting on his desk and drinks half of it in one go before pouring the rest of it over his head.

Severide sits at his desk, filling out some of the paperwork that had steadily been building up on his desk. He fills it out, his mind staying firmly on the paperwork. After an hour he gets up stretching his back before leaving his office. He walks through the quiet hallways fully intending to go and see Boden. He stops outside the rec room.

**Engine 51… Truck 81… Squad 3… Ambulance 61… Battalion 25… Apartment fire…**

Severide groans as he hurries to the truck, his chat with Boden would just have to wait. He gets into his turnout gear before getting into the truck. The rest of his squad get in before pulling out. Truck 81 is leading slightly as Squad 3 follows it. The traffic parts before the flashing lights and sirens, making way for the fire department.

Pulling up to the location, Severide curses when he sees the fire consuming the building. He hops out of the truck and makes his way over to Boden, Casey slightly behind him. Boden joins the lieutenants, casting a critical look over the building.

"Severide take floors 6-10, Casey you do 1-5," Boden says as the two nod, walking off.

"Hey, Casey, be careful, alright?" Severide asks as Casey turns to face Severide. Casey gives Severide a firm nod before going over to gather a few people.

"Capp, Green, with me," Severide barks, pulling on his SCBA. Capp and Green both jog over to their lieutenant as they enter the smoky building. He makes his way up the stairs and starts up them, Capp and Green following. Severide starts at the tenth floor and works downwards.

"Fire department, call out!" Severide yells, listening for any sound. He frowns when he hears a small whimper. He crouches down and reaches under the bed, pulling out a young girl. He hands her up to Green before standing up, brushing some dirt off his reflective stripes of his uniform.

"Bring her down," He yells as Green nods, leaving the room. Severide and Capp continue, clearing floor seven.

They get down to floor six, meeting up with Green again.

"Chief, floor six is clear but unstable moving down to five," Severide says, heading down to the fifth floor. He clears a few rooms, looking up as the ceiling groans in protest.

"Severide is that you?" Casey asks as Severide comes out in the hall. Severide nods, the floor and ceiling groan in unison.

"Yeah, you found anyone yet?" Severide asks, shifting from foot to foot.

"Two children and a dog, you?" Casey asks as the ceiling groans louder.

"A girl. This damn buildings going to collapse soon," Severide says, his voice muffled slightly by his SCBA.

As if a horrendous twist of fate the ceiling buckles onto the firefighters. The weight of the ceiling causes the floor to collapse as Casey throws himself to the ground putting his hands over his helmet. After a few seconds, Casey climbs to his feet, helping Cruz and Herrmann up.

"Lieutenant? Casey, Severide is gone," Capp says frantically looking around.

Then the PASS alarm sounds. The most feared and hated sound in every firefighter, the sound that means that one of their own is unmoving in an _extremely_ unforgiving environment.

"Chief, the floor and ceiling of floors six and five gave up and Severide's gone down, he's buried," Casey says into the radio, turning to run for the stairs. Outside he was calm and collected but on the inside he was a total wreck. Severide was like his brother, he had to be okay. He just had to…

Casey gets down onto floor four and immediately spots the pile of rubble that used to be a floor. The PASS alarm speeds up and gets louder, the whine of it becoming more and more urgent.

"Severide, can you hear me?" Casey yells, his soft blue eyes scanning the rubble for any sight of his friend. He gives a very un-Casey like curse as he starts pulling rubble off. Green, Capp, Cruz and Herrmann start pulling rubble of as well.

Casey frantically starts pulling rubble off even faster as he notices the blood pouring from the rubble. He yells in triumph when he spots Severide's gloved hand, Green uncovers his head a few seconds late and after a few minutes Severide is free.

Casey and Herrmann lift Severide up, going down the stairs. They get outside and Dawson and Shay rush over with a gurney, loading Severide up on it. Casey follows them, nodding to Boden before getting into the ambulance.

Shay bites her lip before removing Severide's heavy jacket. She takes out a pair of scissors and cuts away Severide's top. Casey gags and Shay pales at the mangled mess of Severide's chest. Shay takes a deep breath and puts a neck brace on Severide's neck. At the feeling Severide's eyes flutter open.

"Ma…tt…" He weakly says, gasping for breath. He removes his breathing mask and weakly glares as Shay goes to put it back on. She raises her hands in a sign of surrender and sits back, leaving the mask. Casey leans forward and grasps one of Severide's hands. Severide takes something off his neck, pressing it into Casey's hand. Casey grabs it as Severide drifts unconscious again.

As the ambulance pulls up outside Lakeshore, Casey glances down at his hand. A lump appears in his throat and his eyes water as he gazes down to Severide's Saint Florian cross. It was Severide's safety blanket, he wore it everywhere. Casey remembered when Severide told him and Darden about his cross.

"_Yo, Kelly_, _why do you always wear Saint Florian's cross?" Darden curiously asks as Casey nods, showing his curiosity._

"_What I can't wear a cross?" Severide asks, fingering his cross. Darden smirks and shakes his head. Severide sighs, eyeing his two friends with exasperation._

"_You're not going to leave it alone, are you?" He asks as Casey and Darden shake their heads. Severide sighs, putting his cross back in his t-shirt._

"_My mom's brother was a firefighter down in Texas. He got killed in a fire; he always wore a cross to Saint Florian. The day he died, my mom said he hadn't wore his cross so my mom gave it to me and I've wore it ever since."_

"Sir, sir, are you okay?" A nurse asks snapping Casey out of his flashback. Casey nods frowning slightly before glancing in the direction Severide got took in.

Now all he could do was wait and hope…

**So hopefully you enjoyed this story and I'll update soon.**

**Until next time!**


	2. Unexpected Visitors

Chap 2: Unexpected Visitors

Casey paced up and down, muttering nervously. Dawson's eyes follow him as Shay quietly cries into her shoulder. Casey stops his pacing and glances at the clock. The hands seemed like they were moving in slow motion as they slowly ticked on. Around him people were going about their daily lives. The last time he had been pacing here was when… was when… Hallie died. Casey shakes his head, pushing any thoughts of Hallie to the back of his mind. His brother was in there, his thoughts should be on him.

"God, Matt, even… even Kelly doesn't pace that bad," Shay says before dissolving into a fresh set of tears. Casey hesitates for a second before walking over to Shay and pulling her into a hug.

She clings onto him, desperate sobs wracking her body. Kelly was her rock, her safe place. She needed just as much as Casey did. Dawson awkwardly sits on the uncomfortable blue chairs, holding her head in her hands.

After a few minutes, Shay breaks apart from Casey, sticking a watery smile on her face. Her eyes were rimmed with red and every so often she would give a small hiccup.

"I'm okay now, I promise," She says as Casey grabs her chin with his hands. He makes her look him in the eye as he smiles.

"Leslie, Kelly will be fine. The doctors at Lakeshore are amazing. He _will _be okay. Now, he wouldn't want you to worry like this and you know it, okay?" Casey says as a small smile replaces Shay's watery one. Yes, it was small but it was real and that was all that mattered.

"I'm just going to the bathroom to clean up," Shay says, sounding more and more sure of herself every minute. She leaves the waiting area, closely followed by Dawson.

Casey waits until they're out of eyesight and earshot before leaning back against the wall. A couple of tears slide down his face as he closes his eyes. _Damn, Kelly, you better be okay._ A tug on his trouser leg draws his eyes down to a young girl standing there with her thumb in her mouth.

"Are you okay, mister?" She asks as Casey smiles down at the girl.

"I will be, shouldn't you be with your parents?" He asks as the young girl frowns, bottom lip wobbling slightly.

"The doctor people said my mommy and daddy had went to join my granny and grandpa, they said I was all by myself," She says as Casey takes a seat. The girl sits beside him as Casey muses silently.

"I'm sorry," He finally says after a lengthy pause, thinking of nothing else to say.

"All the doctor people say I'm a brave girl but I don't feel brave I just feel sad," She says, chocolate brown eyes watering slightly. Without really thinking Casey quickly hugs the girl, she hugs him back as Shay and Dawson come back from the bathroom.

Their turnout gear was in a bag and Shay had fixed her hair. She looked better but her eyes were still red. Shay sits beside Casey and the girl gives her a toothy grin.

"Hi, I'm Charlotte," She says, getting a grin out of Shay.

"I'm Leslie," Shay says as the girl scrambles onto her knee. Shay looks shocked for a few seconds before wrapping her arms around the girl.

"Charlotte? Charlotte!" A doctor says, running over to Shay. Charlotte looks up at the doctor, sighing before reluctantly climbing off Shay's knees.

"What did I tell you about running off? You're going to give me a heart attack one of these days," She scolds, lifting the small girl up.

Casey watches them leave, a little sad that the mood was back to being somber. He glances at the clock and sighs when he realizes an hour has gone by. He puts his head in his hand and close his eyes, pushing the heel of his hands into his eyes.

"Matt, go clean up. We'll tell you if anything happens," Shay says as Casey reluctantly gets to his feet. Shay hands him a spare bag for his turnout gear before he shuffles to the bathroom, his body on auto-pilot.

He pushes open the bathroom door and glances at himself in the mirror. He was a mess; he had soot stains covering his face with the exception of a few tear tracks that had cleared the soot. His hair was sweaty and sticking up in all directions whilst his eyes were dull and red.

He goes into a toilet cubicle and gets out of his turnout gear bar the boots. He unlocks the door and exits the cubicle. He runs the water and fill up the sink with warm water. After it reaches its max capacity he dunks his head in. Taking his head out, he winces when he notices the water has gone black with soot.

He reaches his hand in and yanks the plug. The water starts to drain and once it's done, he runs the water. He splashes water on his face, shocking his back into action. He pats his hair down into the right direction before staring at himself in the mirror.

He looked better, his face no longer covered in soot. But his face was an ashen white and his eyes were dull and emotionless. He sighs and closes his eyes, gulping heavily. He opens his eyes and digs into his pocket, producing Kelly's necklace to Saint Florian.

He slips it over his head, it sits comfortably on his chest as he takes a deep breath before leaving the bathroom. He stops outside a vending machine and gets three chocolate bars and three bottles of water.

He jogs back to Shay and Dawson, clutching the bag with his uniform to him like a life line. He felt like he was treading water without a life vest. He couldn't keep going, the cracks were showing, he was tired. But Kelly needed him, he would stay in this hellhole for as long as Kelly needed him.

He gets back into the waiting room and tosses a water bottle to Dawson. He hands another one to Shay before unwrapping a chocolate bar and biting into it. He gives one to Dawson as he wraps an arm around Shay's shoulders.

"I'm… uh… I'm just going to leave the ambulance back," Dawson says before beating a hasty retreat out of the hospital. Casey almost wishes that he could leave the hospital.

Shay sighs, looking the same as Casey did. Blank, emotionless eyes. Casey shifts trying to get comfortable in the highly uncomfortable blue chairs. The chairs that he had, unfortunately got very well acquainted with over his career. After a few minutes, Casey gives up on getting comfortable and stands up instead.

He leans up against the cool wall as the clock ticks on. _Tick… tick… tick… tick…_ Casey shakes his head, attempting to clear it completely. _Just focus on Kelly, ignore everything else,_ and it works. For five minutes his mind centres on Kelly, only thinking about him.

"Matt?" Someone asks as Casey's eyes fly open. He plasters a grin on his face as he sees Heather Darden standing there. Standing a bit behind her were Ben and Griffin, looking tearful.

"Heather, hey, what are you doing here?" Casey asks as Heather nervously looks around, biting her lip.

"It's just I heard about Kelly and I wanted to come to see if he was okay. God I was so mean to him after… after Andy died. I guess I blamed him and now I feel horrible, knowing that he probably hates me," Heather says, words rushing out of her mouth. She blushes red and nods her head, holding back tears.

"No, Heather, Kelly doesn't hate you, he's just confused why you avoid him. He misses you, he hurt his neck pretty bad in the fire that… that killed Andy and that hurt him. But he doesn't hate you, I swear," Casey says as Heather nods, taking a seat beside Shay. Ben and Griffin sit beside their mother as Casey takes a swig of water.

He resorts back to pacing. _Damn, Kelly, you've been in surgery for two hours. C'mon buddy you can do it._

Another half an hour passes without word as Casey grits his teeth in frustration. The rest of the firehouse trickle in, either taking a seat or pacing like Casey.

"Kelly Severide?" A tired looking doctor asks as Casey hurries over to him. Boden grimly makes his way over, his face serious. Shay jumps off the seat and hurries over. The doctor's surgical scrubs were covered in blood_, Kelly's blood._

"Uh… I am really sorry to be the bearer of bad news but it isn't looking good. We had to operate on Mr Severide. His ribs had been crushed and several had punctured several major organs. He flatlined three times on the operating table because of blood loss and on the third time it took us two minutes to resuscitate him. His left leg was shattered and for a while we thought we were going to have to amputate it but we managed to piece it back together. He's on life support in ICU but his chances of survival are only at 10%. The next 48 hours are critical. Are Matthew Casey and Leslie Shay here?" The doctor says as Boden steps back, quietly informing the rest of the house about Severide.

"The two of you are Mr Severide's emergency contacts, if he goes again do you want us to resuscitate him?" The doctor says as Casey and Shay exchange quick looks.

"Yes, of course, no arguments about it," Casey says as the doctor nods his head, looking somewhat relieved that the 'hard' part was over.

"Can we visit him?" Shay asks her voice thick with tears. The doctor hesitates for a brief second before nodding. He walks off, Shay and Casey following.

After a short elevator room the doctor stops outside a room, looking unsure of himself. He motions for Casey and Shay to go on in. Shay enters straight away but Casey takes a deep breath before entering.

His breath hitches as he notices Severide, lying in bed, dwarfed by the heavy bandages around his chest. His leg has been thickly bandaged and is propped up on a mountain of pillows. His face was pale and sweaty but he was awake.

Casey closes his eyes, moistening his lips before stepping towards Kelly. Shay was already seated, clutching onto Kelly's hand. Tears were trickling down her face as she traces circles over Severide's hand. Casey pulls up a second chair and sits on it, leaning forwards Severide weakly grins at him.

"You… still have… the cross?" He asks, his voice soft and broken. Casey nods and pulls the cross out of his t-shirt. Severide closes his eyes for a second before they flutter open again.

"That's good, you… you… you should go home… get some sleep… I'm not going anywhere," Severide mutters, a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead.

"Well, neither are we," Shay counters. Severide rolls his eyes before closing them. His breathing even outs and Casey sits back.

He was definitely staying the night. Severide needed him.

**So, for starters I apologise for the late update but we are moving house and everything is chaos so sorry.**

**Things are starting to get serious! Little Charlotte will play quite a serious role in this story so be prepared to see more of her. I had Heather come into the story because of Ben and Griffin!**

**-B.o.B Rules**


	3. We Need You

The sun was still rising when Chief Wallace Boden made his way into Lakeshore. He nods to a few people as he presses the button for the elevator. He had put shift 1 on an extra shift because Shift 2 was a mess with both of their lieutenants out of action. The elevator arrives with a small beep as Boden gets into it.

He presses the floor button and the doors gradually close. Unfortunately for Boden he knew his way around ICU quite well. The elevator arrives at the intended floor and Boden leaves it, making his way along the corridor. He stops outside Severide's door and opens it, peering inside.

He smiles softly at the sight before him. Shay was sleeping across two chairs and Casey was sleeping on the floor. Severide was awake and his eyes immediately focused on Boden. Boden enters the room and quickly crosses it, sitting on the edge of Severide's bed.

"How you doing, Kelly?" Boden asks as Severide weakly grins at Boden.

"I feel like a fire truck has run over me then reversed over me again to finish the job," Severide jokes as Boden chuckles lightly.

"Eric Whaley has agreed to fill in for you Kelly but your men need _you_, Leslie needs you, Matt needs you, the firehouse needs you and the city of Chicago needs you. No matter how hard the going is going to get, you will _always _have Firehouse 51 backing you. Through thick and thin because that's what family does," Boden says as Severide nods, struggling to stay awake.

"Chief, can you send Leslie and Matt home, they've been here all night," Severide weakly whispers. Boden nods and Severide relaxes drifting off to sleep once more.

Boden gets off Severide's bed and goes over to Casey. He bends down and gently shakes Casey's shoulders. As Casey gradually wakes up, Boden goes and wakes Shay up. Shay wakes up instantly, sitting up and looking around.

She relaxes when she sees Severide peacefully sleeping. Casey stands up stretching as Boden sends both of them reproving looks.

"Both of you are going to go home and get a decent meal, get showered and get changed. You are not to come back to this hospital for at least an hour. And that's an order," Boden adds seeing that Casey was opening his mouth to open.

"But, sir, what about Severide? We can't leave him by himself," Shay argues as Boden smiles at her pointing to himself. Shay sighs, shoulders slumping but nonetheless exits the room with Casey in tow. Boden smiles as he watches the two leave. He settles on one of the chairs that Shay had just vacated. Looking around he takes a book of the bedside table and starts reading it.

"Casey, can you go to the penthouse with me? I can't go by myself," Shay pleads as Casey nods his head understanding. He had got a text from Herrmann telling him that his truck was in the hospital car park.

"Is it okay if we go to my house and get some of my stuff and then go to your apartment?" He asks as Shay nods. Casey finds his truck and reaches behind the front tire, his hand finds the keys that Herrmann had left and he unlocks the car.

Shay gets in the passenger seat as Casey starts the car. He pulls out of the hospital car park and starts the drive towards his house. After a few minutes of silence Casey reaches forward and turns the radio on.

The silence is broken by the latest songs. After a few minutes Casey pulls up outside his house. He gets out of the truck, Shay staying in it. He jogs up the steps to his house and unlocks the front door. He quickly looks around before jogging upstairs into his bedroom.

He looks longingly at his bed but shakes his head, grabbing a back pack. He adds a few changes of clothes and a bottle of shower gel and shampoo. He adds a travel pillow and jogs back down the stairs.

He locks the front door and gets back in the truck. He drives towards Severide and Shay's apartment. Throughout the whole journey Shay stays silent, not saying a single word. Casey knew that she was dealing with Severide's injury her own way but it was seriously starting to freak him out.

"I'll cook us something when I get showered," Shay finally says as Casey parks outside the apartment building.

He gets out of the truck and follows Shay up to the apartment. She unlocks the front door and steps in. Casey follows her, taking a deep breath. The place smelt like a mixture between Severide's aftershave and Shay's perfume.

"Uh- you can use Kelly's bathroom to get showered," Shay says as Casey nods, following Shay up the stairs. He goes into Severide's bedroom and quickly looks around. Everything about this room just screamed Severide's name. Casey shakes his head and goes into the bathroom taking his backpack with him. He takes his shower gel and shampoo with him as he turns the shower on. He undresses and gets into the shower, the hot, steamy water relaxing him.

After a few minutes he applies shower gel, washing away all the grime from the previous day. After another few minutes he washes his hair. His shoulders slump and he finds himself more relaxed than ever.

After about ten minutes Casey turns the shower off and gets out. He towels himself off and changes into a pair of sweats and a truck t-shirt. He goes back into the bedroom and looks at the bed. He was so tired but…

Casey shakes his head, leaving the room. He crosses the hall and knocks very gently on Shay's door. After a few minutes with no reply, Casey cracks the door open and peers in. Shay was peacefully sleeping, wrapped up in the duvet.

Casey smiles softly and goes back into Severide's room. He lies on the bed and closes his eyes. A five minute nap couldn't hurt anyone, could it?

Casey rolls over, falling out of bed. He softly curses ass his eyes blearily open. He looks at the time on his phone and yawns then he looks at the time again. This time he curses. It had been eight in the morning when they got to the apartment and it was now one in the afternoon. Casey yawns again and scrambles up, going into the bathroom.

He takes out the spare toothbrush that Severide had just fir him. He quickly cleans his teeth, looking at the time very few minutes. Once he's finished cleaning his teeth he goes back into the bedroom and pulls on a pair of worn out Converse.

He peers in on Shay and sees that she's still sleeping. Casey tip-toes downstairs, going into the kitchen. He takes out all the necessary ingredients and starts making toasties. Just as they finish cooking, Shay runs downstairs a wild look on her face.

"Casey, its ten past one!" She squeals as Casey sets a toasty in front of her. She looks like she's going to argue but her stomach rumbles then so she grudgingly starts to eat. Shay was wearing an outfit practically identical to Casey's but she was wearing a squad t-shirt instead of a truck.

After a while, Shay picks up the two empty plates and puts them in the sink before disappearing upstairs. Five minutes later she comes back with a bag in one hand and Casey's backpack in the other. She tosses him the backpack and he easily catches it.

The two leave the apartment and Shay locks the door behind her. They race downstairs to Casey's truck. He gets in and starts the truck up. He drives to Lakeshore having a small conversation with Shay.

They pull up and get out, heading into the building. Casey and Shay head right up to ICU. They enter Severide's room and let out simultaneous gasps of astonishment. There were two fully made single airbeds and a bag of toiletries on each bed. A grinning Chief Boden was sitting in the same seat.

"Chief, this is amazing," Shay comments as Casey drops his bag onto the airbed nearest to the door. Shay drops her bag on the other one as Boden stands up. He nods to the two before leaving the room.

"Matt… Leslie…" Severide weakly calls as the two hurry over to him. He looks up at them smiling slightly.

"We're here Kelly, don't worry," Shay soothes as Severide's eyes focus on the two.

"I love you guys," He says as his eyes flicker closed. Seconds later the heart monitor goes crazing as Shay and Casey exchange looks. After a few seconds a crash team bursts into the room, forcing Casey and Shay to take a step back.

"He's crashing. We need to shock him." 

**Dun, Dun, Dun! Cliffhanger! Lol, I got quite a few PMs asking me to not kill Severide! Thanks for all the reviews, favourites and follows, the responses to this story overwhelmed me!Thank you so much! This chapter would have been up sooner but my very naughty puppy chewed through my laptop charger when I was nearly finished this chapter and my laptop's battery died on me but thanks to my amazing brother who allowed me to use his laptop this chapter was able to be posted! Yay!**

**-B.o.B Rules**


	4. Bond Of Brothers

48 Hours 4

The Bond of Brothers

**I am so, so, so, so (Lots more so's) sorry for the late update. There's more on that at the bottom. But for now, please, enjoy the story.**

Casey and Shay get hustled out of the room as the crash team work on Severide. Casey glances over to Shay; her eyes were wide and Casey was suddenly glad that there was no window to see into the room.

"Leslie!" Someone yells, running forward and throwing their small arms around Shay's legs. Casey blinks in surprise as Shay bends down and picks up the young girl from yesterday, Charlotte.

"Hey, Charlie, this is my friend Matt," Leslie says as the young girl nods her head, laying her head on Shay's shoulder.

"Matthew Casey?" A tired looking doctor asks as Casey nods his head, anxiously stepping forward.

"We've stabilized Mr Severide, we are quite sure that it will be the last time that we need to shock him back," The doctor says as Casey nods in relief.

"Can you tell me about his condition?" Casey asks as the doctor nods, grabbing a clipboard off the nurse's desk.

"Ah, let's see. His tibia and fibula were shattered and his pelvis had a hairline crack. We sorted that all out, he will need to go to therapy but his leg should return to normal in around 6-7 months. Ribs 8, 9 and 10 or his false ribs on his left side were crushed together and rib 10 had pierced his stomach but we repaired all of them."

"They were all easy fix injuries; the next one was pretty bad. Two of his true ribs, the second and third, had broken free of the cartilage and were putting pressure on his heart. When we tried to put the ribs back in place, we discovered that there was a small tear in his heart and the two ribs were holding that closed. We had to perform emergency surgery so Mr Severide crashing is perfectly natural because his heart is reacting naturally," The doctor says as Casey smiles softly.

Shay comes over and smiles at Casey before the two enter the room. Severide grins up at them as Shay throws her arms around his neck, inhaling deeply.

"I need to go and talk to someone up in the canteen, I'll be back in ten minutes," She says, kissing Severide's head slightly. She skips out of the room and Casey slides into the seat beside Severide.

Severide waits until the door closes after Shay. Once the door closes his face slumps and he suddenly appears ten years older.

"Kelly?" Casey asks, suddenly concerned. To see Severide looking so helpless was breaking his heart, "What's wrong?"

"I can't do it, Matt, it's too hard," Severide whimpers, his blue eyes rapidly filling with tears.

"Kelly…" Casey says, sounding concerned and shocked at the same time.

"No, Matt, it was enough hard work for me to recover after my neck but now my leg and my chest are messed up. I might as well quit now before I get ahead," Severide says, sounding angry as a few tears splash down his face.

"Kelly, do you remember when you were in 2nd grade?" Casey asks as Severide casts his mind back.

"_Mommy!" An eight year old Severide cries, running into his house. _

_The door slams behind him as he runs up the stairs, dumping his firefighter backpack at the foot of the stairs. He gets to his parents' bedroom and flings the door open. His mother, Elise, runs out looking concerned at her son's tears._

"_What's wrong Kelly?" She asks as her son removes his hand from his face, revealing a bloody nose._

"_Five boys in the 5__th__ grade beat me and Andy and Matt up," Severide wails as his mother pulls him onto her knee, stroking the boy's hair._

"_Elise, what's wrong with Kelly?" Benny asks, starting up the stairs._

"_He got beat up by a bunch of fifth graders," Elise says as Benny goes forward and plucks Severide from his mother's lap._

"_Kelly look at me," He says sharply as Severide unwillingly makes his eyes meet his father's._

"_Listen here, son, if you can't even come out of a fight and not go crying to your mommy then you will __never__ amount to anything. When it comes to a fight, no matter how hard it is, no matter if you're just a signal man and your problem is a mountain you need to fight. Fight with everything you have because at the end of the day it doesn't matter if you let me down, let your friends down but never, __ever __let yourself down."_

"You're right, Matt, it's just when you're laying here feeling helpless, things just get a bit depressing," Severide says as Casey smiles bashfully.

"No problem, Kel, sometimes you just need someone to put things back into perspective for you. After all, what are brother's for?" Casey says as Severide smiles for the first time since last walking into the Fire Station.

Severide reaches out and grabs the bed control, moving the bed into a sitting position. Casey watches with eagle eyes as Severide winces at the chest movement. After a few tense minutes, the bed finally gets into the sitting position.

Severide smiles tiredly, the small movement had tired him more than he would ever admit but he had done it and at the end of the day it's the small things that add up to the big things.

Casey gets off the seat and stretches before going over to one of the airbeds. He takes his bag and takes out a few things, tiding up slightly.

The door knocks and a man enters, smiling at both Severide and Casey.

"Mr Casey and Mr Severide?" He asks as Casey nods, sitting in the chair he had just vacated. The man sits beside him, holding a file in his hand

"Matt and Kelly, respectfully, please call us that," Severide interrupts as Casey nods his approval

"I'm Dr Murphy and I'm going to be Kelly's physical therapist for his rehab," The man says as Severide nods.

"How long till I can work again?" Severide asks, sounding worried.

"Well, I know your both firefighters and I've been talking to Chief Boden and he's giving Matt six months off to go through rehab with Kelly, so Kelly, I am giving you six months to get back onto full shift. You think you can do it?" Dr Murphy asks, his eyes sparkling with a challenge.

"Six months? Of course," Severide says, a hint of his usual cockiness coming back into his tired voice.

"Good, then I expect to see the both of you outside my office at nine AM sharp tomorrow morning," Dr Murphy says standing up. He exits the room and Casey raises an eyebrow at Severide.

"Six months?"

"Six months," Severide echoes, smiling at Casey.

"Better get started at those truck drills then," Casey says as Severide grins, playfully whacking Casey over the back of his head.

"I am hurt, Kelly," Casey says with mock annoyance. Severide laughs for a minutes, before stopping, his face traced with pain.

"Hey, Kelly, lie down again. Save your energy for tomorrow," Casey says, making the bed lie down. Severide's face relaxes, his eyes fluttering closed.

"Matt, thank you so much for always being there. You're the best brother," Severide mutters before falling asleep.

"Same here, Kelly, same here." 

**Right, I would have updated sooner and I was planning on finishing this chapter and updating on Thursday but due to a security alert we were only allowed back into our house to get our puppy but everything is alright now so don't panic (joking)! It's also been really stressful with the new house and new puppy but everything is settling down now so there will be shorter time spans between updates! Yay!**

**So this chapter had a happy ending. The next chapter will be about Kelly going to physical therapy. There's still a lot of hard work ahead for our boys! **


End file.
